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Training

There are many different training methods, and users may respond differently to training depending on their level of comfort with technology and accounting, as well as their prior experience with similar applications. The following sections discuss ideas to consider when deciding how and when to train users on Dynamics GP, grouped into these topics:

  • How to train and who should be the trainer?
  • How much training and for whom?
  • When to train?
  • Notes for the trainer.
  • Available training resources.

How to train and who should be the trainer?

This is by no means a complete guide to training. However, having trained many users over the years, there are a few concepts that have proven true time and time again:

  • Make sure you have a trainer that knows their stuff. Nothing can be worse than being trained from a script with no ability to have a meaningful discussion or ask follow up questions. If the trainer has textbook knowledge of a system, but no real life experience with it, they will not have as much knowledge to share, which could result in incomplete training and lost credibility with the users. If you do not have someone on your team that is a good training resource for Dynamics GP, bring a trainer in.
  • If you are bringing a training resource in from outside your team, help them by explaining what the company does, what Dynamics GP modules will be used, and the basics of the setup that has been performed. With this knowledge, the trainer will be better equipped to train your users.
  • Focus the training on the functionality that will be used. For example, if Purchase Order Approvals are not being used, it can certainly be mentioned that this functionality is available, but why spend time on it? Most likely, if it is implemented six months later, re-training will be required.
  • Set up a training schedule that is reasonable. Some companies may be able to close an accounting department for a whole week to perform training for all users of the new system. Given today’s busy working environments, this is often not a realistic option.
  • Keep the number of users in a training session to no more than four or five, anything else can get unruly very quickly. If there are many users that need to be trained on the same functionality, hold two or more sessions for the same topic.
  • Keep training sessions to no more than three hours. This will typically be the most users can absorb at one time. It will also give the company’s employees an opportunity to get some of their regular work done on training days.
  • Make the system available to users during training if at all possible. If Dynamics GP is already installed and the sample or test company is set up, give users access to log in during and after training to experiment with what they have just learned.
  • Some companies like the idea of training the trainer—taking a more advanced user who will be using most of the Dynamics GP functionality and training them, so they can train the rest of the users. While this may be a cost saving option in the short term, this can easily become similar to the broken telephone game and is not something that is recommended for most companies.

How much training and for whom?

Often training classes and manuals for Dynamics GP modules will start with the setup of the module, then go into detail for each type of transaction possible, and then cover routines and utilities available in the module.

Think about the users for your Dynamics GP system. How many of them will need to change setup options, or even have the permissions to do so? How many of them will be performing maintenance if there are issues? Typically the answer is one or two (we will call them super users). The rest of the users (regular users) will be entering transactions, inquiring on them, printing reports, and analyzing data.

One idea for training your super users on the setup options of Dynamics GP is to do it at the same time as the module setup. That way, as you are going through all the settings, you can explain the available options to them and at the same time get their feedback on the most appropriate settings for the company. Super users thus become part of the implementation process, benefiting them as they get more knowledge of the system, and benefiting the implementation as the modules are set up with all the available knowledge of key accounting personnel.

For regular users, make a concise list of the users and what functions they typically perform as part of their job. Only include users in the sessions that they need for their work. Breaking out the training sessions by functionality and keeping them short will afford the best chance of users retaining knowledge. If a user is moved to a different area or gets more responsibility, it is usually best to train them on the additional functionality they need at that time.

There is a fine line between too much and too little training. With too much, most of the training is not retained because users can get overwhelmed. With too little training, users may not understand enough of how Dynamics GP works and the repercussions of their actions throughout the system. The key is to find just the right amount of training, and that’s where an experienced trainer can really add value to your implementation.

When to train?

It may be appealing to set aside time for training users before the implementation really gets started. Everyone has more time and is more relaxed, schedules are more open. I strongly recommend against this. Training users and having them not use the training for several weeks to a month will render that training almost useless for many of the users. To maximize the chances of success, plan to do the bulk of the training right before the users need to start using Dynamics GP. This is another reason why a phased approach often makes more sense than implementing all the functionality at once.

Plan to keep training users through at least the first few days of the Go Live. Users that are not very computer savvy, or are more resistant to change, may need some hand-holding during the Go Live to ensure a smooth transition. If you can identify these users and plan for this ahead of time, you will increase your chances of a successful implementation.

Keep in mind that training is not a discrete process. While the bulk of the training may be done right before the Go Live, make plans for retraining regularly. If there is high turnover in the company’s GP users, put together a plan for training new users as they are hired. Many companies have employees that are leaving train their replacement. While this may work for some aspects of a job, this is not always a good idea for systems such as Dynamics GP, especially if it has not been in place long.

Once employees start using Dynamics GP they will have questions that need to be answered right away, as they are stopping critical work, but there will also be many non-critical questions. Make sure your users have a resource to ask the critical questions and let them know how to access this resource. For the non-critical issues, ask users to make a list of these as they go about their daily work and plan for periodic refreshers on the training. This will give users a chance to get familiar with the system and let them know they have a resource to answer any questions that might come up.

Notes for the trainer

Each trainer will have their own technique and methodology. This is not meant to teach someone how to train Dynamics GP users, just a few things to keep in mind if you are the one performing the training:

  • Understand your audience : Are they experienced accountants that have used Dynamics GP or a similar ERP system in the past? Or are they mostly clerical users that simply key in transactions without too much accounting experience or computer knowledge? The answer may change how you present or explain things. It will also help you understand and answer their questions better. Often you will have a mix in the audience—try to involve more experienced users in answering the questions about company accounting policy and practices for the others. You will get the benefit of their experience with the company and make them feel more involved in the process.
  • Be flexible, but firm: If users want to ask questions during training, be flexible enough to veer a little off course to accommodate them. However, if the discussion starts getting too far off topic or taking an inordinate amount of time, make a note if you need to follow up later, but get back to the scheduled training.
  • Start each training session with a brief introduction to navigation in Dynamics GP and some of the basic terminology: For users that have not seen Dynamics GP before, a lot of the terminology and navigation may take some getting used to. Reinforce this throughout the training—certain icons appear on almost every window and have the same functionality—remind users of this. For example, clicking on the looking glass icon will always give you a list of choices for the field you’re on, or a note icon will add a note to the item it is right next to, but a note icon in the bottom right corner of a window will be a window level note.
  • Follow up : If there were questions left open during training, make notes and follow up via e-mail or in the next training session with the same users.

Available training resources

If you have no trainer available on your team and are looking for classroom or pre-recorded training, the following are some Dynamics GP training resources:

  • E-Learning : Microsoft E-Learning offers a comprehensive list of pre-recorded training sessions for various Dynamics GP modules. Currently E-Learning is available to all Dynamics GP customers on a maintenance plan at no additional charge. To access your E-Learning, log onto CustomerSource (https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/) and navigate to Readiness and Training | E-Learning from the menu on the left.
  • Training available from Microsoft : Other training options, including instructor-led classroom and online training, are available from Microsoft. As the offerings and schedules change often, it is best to use Microsoft’s Training Catalog (http://learning.microsoft.com/Manager/Catalog.aspx) to find the training you are looking for.
  • Manuals : Many modules in Microsoft Dynamics GP have printable guides available, found at the following URL: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj673202(v=gp.30).aspx.

While all of these resources can help with training, both initially and on an ongoing basis, typically best results are accomplished by using a dedicated trainer as opposed to a canned resource to train your users prior to a Go Live. This allows the training to be geared specifically to your company’s needs, which usually saves time and offers the best return on your company’s Dynamics GP investment.

Tools for Dynamics GP

There are a number of tools available from Microsoft to help troubleshoot and add functionality to Dynamics GP. In this section we will go over the following tools:

  • Professional Services Tools Library
  • Tools from Microsoft’s Professional Services Team
  • Support Debugging Tool

Professional Services Tools Library

The Professional Services Tools Library ( PSTL ) is a suite of tools originally created by the Microsoft Dynamics GP support, development, and professional services teams to add functionality to Dynamics GP. For many years most of the tools in the PSTL were sold for anywhere from $750 to $1500 each and the entire suite cost $5,000. On March 26, 2012 Microsoft announced that the PSTL would be available to all customers using Dynamics GP 10.0 or later at no additional cost.

The PSTL can be installed during the Dynamics GP application installation or added as an additional component later. Dynamics GP partners can download the PSTL at the following URL: http://bit.ly/18qHTH3 (requires PartnerSource access). Customers can ask their Dynamics GP partner to download this for them.

There are currently 40 tools in the PSTL. The following sections lists them all with a brief description of each, grouped by series.

System tools

These are tools that are global to the entire Dynamics GP system:

Tool Name

Description

Database Disabler

Allows an administrator to temporarily disable any existing Dynamics GP companies. This is a great tool to use when running maintenance or other updates, to prevent users from logging into selected companies. (Requires sa login.)

Shortcuts Copy

This tool will copy shortcuts from one user to another.

Toolkit

The Toolkit is used to rebuild the GL Account Master Index table (GL00105), re-create Dex Procs, rebuild indexes, recreate tables, and check identities of tables. This will typically only be needed when working with support. (Requires sa login.)

Menu Inquiry Utility

Allows you to see detailed technical information for each menu item in your Dynamics GP.

Update User Date

If this tool is enabled, the Dynamics GP User Date will automatically increment the date at midnight if the Dynamics GP application is open.

Note that this tool requires a setting in the Dex.ini file of

SuppressChangeDateDialog=True. More Dex.ini settings with detailed explanations can be found here: http://dynamicsconfessions.blogspot.com/2011/02/dexini-downloadable-file-updated.html

Financial tools

These are tools for the General Ledger and Bank Reconciliation modules:

Tool Name

Description

Account Modifier / Combiner

This incredibly useful tool will go through all posted and unposted transactions throughout Dynamics GP and change or combine General Ledger account numbers. Often this tool is used after a reorganization, when the chart of accounts needs to be changed to accommodate the new company structure. It can also be helpful to clean up a chart of accounts when many new accounts have been added. (Requires sa login.)

Checkbook Modifier

Allows you to change a Checkbook ID, this will update all transactions in the system.

Fiscal Period Modifier

This tool is used to change the Year number for closed years. Often this is needed when changes to the fiscal years are made, for example to align them to calendar years.

GL Master Triggers

With this tool General Ledger accounts created in a master company can be set up to replicate to some or all of your other companies.

Purchasing tools

These are tools for the Payables Management and Purchase Order Processing modules:

Tool Name

Description

1099 Modifier

This tool will update 1099 amounts for vendors that were not set up as a 1099 vendor, but should have been.

PM Master Triggers

With this tool Vendors created in a master company can be set up to replicate to some or all of your other companies.

PM Minimum Check

If this tool is enabled, a new option to set a minimum check amount will be available on the Additional menu during the Select Checks process in the Payables module.

Select Checks Combiner

If this tool is enabled, when users add payments to existing check batches, payments for the same vendors will be combined into one check instead of creating multiple checks for the same vendor.

Vendor Combiner

This tool allows combining multiple vendors into one. You may find this tool useful if multiple users are creating vendors and may have inadvertently created multiple Vendor IDs for the same vendor. (Requires sa login.)

Vendor Modifier

This popular tool will change the Vendor ID for all unposted, open and historical records throughout Dynamics GP. You may find this tool useful if you are using the vendor name as part of the Vendor ID and the vendor changes their name or a mistake was made when creating the Vendor ID. (Requires sa login.)

Vendor Name Modifier

Allows changing the vendor name on all existing transactions in Dynamics GP. (Requires sa login.)

Minimum PO/ Receipt #

If this tool is enabled, you can specify minimum Purchase Order and Receipt numbers, so that the system does not go back and try to reuse numbers that are below what you have specified.

POP Cost Disabler

If this tool is enabled, you can specify the Current Cost or Standard Cost of inventory items to be defaulted onto Purchase Orders instead of the standard Dynamics GP behavior of using the Last Invoice Cost per vendor.

Sales tools

These are tools for the Receivables Management and Sales Order Processing modules:

Tool Name

Description

Customer Combiner

This tool allows combining multiple customers into one. You may find this tool useful if customers merge or multiple users are creating customers and may have inadvertently created multiple Customer IDs for the same customer. (Requires sa login.)

Customer Modifier

This popular tool will change the Customer ID for all unposted, open, and historical records throughout Dynamics GP. You may find this tool useful if you are using the customer name as part of the Customer ID and the customer changes their name or a mistake was made when creating the Customer ID. (Requires sa login.)

Customer Name Modifier

Allows changing the customer name on all existing transactions in Dynamics GP. (Requires sa login.)

RM Master Triggers

With this tool Customers created in a master company can be set up to replicate to some or all of your other companies.

RM Transaction Unapply

When receivables transactions are moved to history they can no longer be unapplied or voided. This very useful tool allows historical receivables transactions to be unapplied and moved back to an open status to allow voiding, entering an NSF, or changing apply information.

Salesperson Modifier

Allows changing a Salesperson ID on all transactions in Dynamics GP. (Requires sa login.)

SOP Customer Item Lookup

With this tool enabled, users can look up customer specific item sales history quickly during sales transaction entry. This can be helpful to show what a customer purchased in the past and at what prices.

Territory Modifier

Allows changing a Territory ID on all transactions in Dynamics GP. (Requires sa login.)

Territory Combiner

This tool is used to combine Territories. As with the other tools, all existing transactions are updated. (Requires sa login.)

SOP PO Number Check

With this tool enabled you can set up your Dynamics GP to check for supplicate customer PO numbers and either not allow them, or show a warning message to the user.

Payroll tools

These are tools for the Payroll module:

Tool Name

Description

Certified Payroll Report

Enabling this tool with the US Payroll module allows you to add a project number to employee transactions.

Employee Modifier

Allows changing an Employee ID on all transactions in Dynamics GP.

Inventory tools

These are tools for the Inventory module:

Tool Name

Description

Inventory Site Combiner

Allows combining inventory sites. This may be useful if a new site was created by mistake.

Inventory Site Modifier

This tool allows you to change the ID of an inventory site on all transactions in Dynamics GP.

Item Description Modifier

This tools changes the name of an inventory item based on an item number on all transactions in Dynamics GP. This should be used very carefully, as some companies change the item descriptions on both sales and purchasing documents on purpose and may want to keep those changes in their historical data.

Item Number Combiner

One of the more popular tools, this allows inventory items to be combined into one. (Requires sa login.)

Item Number Modifier

Another of the tools used often, this allows you to change the number of an inventory item on all transactions in Dynamics GP. This is very useful when changing inventory numbering. (Requires sa login.)

Item Reconciler

This tool runs the same Inventory Reconcile process that is available in the Inventory module in Dynamics GP, however, it only runs for the items that need to be reconciled. If you have a large number of items and transactions, this tool may increase performance of the reconcile process.

Miscellaneous tools

Additional tools that do not fit into the previous categories, or were added recently:

Tool Name

Description

Fixed Asset Modifier

Allows changing an Asset ID on all transactions in Dynamics GP.

Default Add Item POP/SOP

With this tool enabled, if a user types in an item number that does not exist on either a POP or SOP transaction, they will see a prompt asking them if they want to add the item. This is very useful to quickly alert users that they have typed in a non-inventory item.

Doc Date Verify

This is arguably one of the most useful tools available and I recommend that it be enabled for every Dynamics GP installation. With this tool enabled, when a user types in a date, Dynamics GP checks to see if it is in an existing or closed fiscal period. Transactions will not be allowed for non-existing fiscal periods and will be allowed with a warning for closed fiscal period. Doc Date Verify works with the following transaction windows:

  • Payables Transaction Entry
  • Payables Manual Payment Entry
  • Purchase Order Entry
  • Receivings Transaction Entry
  • Purchasing Invoice Entry
  • Receivables Transaction Entry
  • Invoice Entry
  • Sales Transaction Entry
  • Cash Receipts Entry
  • Inventory Transaction Entry

Decimal Place Tool

With this tool enabled the Check Amount in words on Payables and Payroll checks will be shown with two decimal places.

Company Copy

This tool allows copying module setup and/or data from one Dynamics GP company to another. This can be very useful when creating a new Dynamics GP company that needs to have similar setup to an existing company. (Requires sa login.)

You can find more information and detailed instructions for each tool listed in the preceding table from the Professional Services Tools Library manual, included with the PSTL download. Note that some of the tools require that the user be logged in as sa for the tool to work. Many of the tools that offer the ability to change IDs or names have the option of importing a list of the changes instead of having to manually enter them one at a time.

Tools from Microsoft’s Professional Services Team

Microsoft’s Professional Services Team has created many customizations for Dynamics GP customers over the years. Some of these customizations have been packaged into tools that have also been made available for free. Similarly to the PSTL, Dynamics GP partners are able to download these tools from the following URL: http://bit.ly/18qHTH3 (requires PartnerSource access). Dynamics GP customers would need to ask their partners for the tools.

Following is a list of these tools with brief descriptions:

Tool Name

Description

AutoDim

Tool that allows you to launch Dynamics GP, run one or more integrations or integration groups, and have Dynamics GP exit upon completion of the integrations. This product also supports integration into several different companies.

AutoPost

DLL that uses the Continuum API to call the posting processes in Dynamics GP. The Dynamics GP application must be opened with a user logged into the appropriate company for this to work. AutoPost works for transactions entered on the following windows:

  • General Ledger Transaction Entry
  • Inventory Item Transaction Entry
  • Inventory Item Transfer Entry
  • Receivables Cash Receipts Entry
  • SOP Sales Transaction Entry
  • POP Receivings Transaction Entry
  • Payables Transaction Entry

Detail Payroll Activity Tracking

Allows you to track all employee changes made in Microsoft Dynamics GP.

PO Returns

When invoicing a receipt in POP, this tool will check the previous quantity invoiced and the quantity returned for the line item. The maximum quantity allowed to be invoiced is based on the following formula: Quantity Shipped minus (Previous Quantity Invoiced plus Quantity Returned). This tool will not allow invoicing for more than the maximum quantity allowed.

RM Auto Apply

Allows you to mass apply posted receivables credit documents (payments, returns and credit memos) to posted receivables debit documents. You can select ranges of customers, transaction dates and document types.

Shipment Notification

This tool allows drop ship sales orders to be transferred to invoices prior to invoicing the purchase order.

SOP Default per Site Line

This tool defaults the site from the Cards | Inventory | Quantities/Sites window for each line item entered on an SOP transaction.

SOP Sort Line Items

Allows you to define custom sorting options to display line items in Sales Order Processing.

SOP to POP Line Reordering Utility

This tool will reorder the line items of Purchase Orders generated by the SOP to POP transfer process to be in the same order as they originally were on the Sales Order document(s).

More details and instructions are included with the download for each of these tools.

Support Debugging Tool

The Support Debugging Tool for Dynamics GP was created by David Musgrave (http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Profile/davidmusgrave), a key contributor to the Dynamics GP community. The Support Debugging Tool is written in Dexterity and contains a number of very useful utilities for helping with support, troubleshooting, and reporting in Dynamics GP.

Dynamics GP partners can download the Support Debugging Tool for Dynamics GP 2013 on PartnerSource (login required): https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/support/selfsupport/productreleases/MDGP2013_SupportDebuggingTool. Customers can ask their Dynamics GP partner to obtain the Support Debugging Tool for them.

Some additional links for the Support Debugging Tool:

Troubleshooting tips

Troubleshooting can be a difficult and lengthy process and often, without enough information, can become iterative and frustrating. This section offers a list of tests to attempt and information to collect when troubleshooting or asking for support.

Tests

One of the key factors in identifying and fixing a problem is being able to reproduce it. Before trying to look up an issue or error, or asking others for help with it, consider running through some of the following tests on your own:

  • Are the results the same when logged into Dynamics GP as another user on the same computer?
  • Are the results the same when logged into Dynamics GP as the same user on a different computer (or, even better, the Dynamics GP server, if possible to test there)?
  • Are the results the same when logged into Dynamics GP as sa?
  • Are the results the same in all Dynamics GP companies?
  • Are the results the same when logged into Windows as a user in the local administrators group?
  • If you have multiple Windows operating systems running Dynamics GP, are the results the same on a different operating system?
  • If the issue is on a Terminal Server, are the results the same when running Dynamics GP locally on the Terminal Server and/or locally on another computer?
  • Are the results the same when logged into Windows as the local administrator (built-in account for administering the computer/domain)?
  • If printing a report is not working:
    • Are the results the same when choosing to print to screen only, instead of choosing printer or export?
    • Has a new printer been added recently?
    • Has anything changed in the printer setup?

Important information

The following is a list of information that is helpful to provide when asking for help:

  • Dynamics GP version and service pack (or build number).
  • Windows operating system and service pack.
  • SQL Server version and service pack.
  • What are the steps to reproduce the issue?
  • If you are getting an error, capture a screenshot or the exact wording of the error message and the exact steps that lead to it.
  • Describe the steps you have already taken to troubleshoot and their results.

Running through some tests yourself and providing as much information as possible when asking for support will help you get to a resolution much faster. Often the results of the tests will actually lead you to see what is causing the issue even before calling for support.

Additional resources

There are many additional resources available for Dynamics GP. This section will discuss the following resources:

  • Knowledge base
  • Forums
  • Blogs

Knowledge base

The Dynamics Knowledge Base requires a login to either CustomerSource or PartnerSource and can be found at the following URL: https://mbs.microsoft.com/knowledgebase/search.aspx. This Knowledge Base is for all Microsoft Dynamics products, so be sure to select Microsoft Dynamics GP under Select Product when searching.

As there are a great number of articles in the Knowledge Base, it is often best to start with the exact and complete text of the error message you are trying to troubleshoot and choose All of the words entered or Exact phrase entered under Using . If that does not provide results, you can always take some of the words out.

Some additional tips on searching the Dynamics Knowledge Base can be found in this blog post and its comments: http://bit.ly/18qMHMI.

Forums

There are a number of Microsoft and non-Microsoft forums, also sometimes referred to as newsgroups, where you can search for answers and ask for help on Dynamics GP. The top four that I have used are:

This is by no means an exhaustive list and there are other Dynamics GP forums on the internet. Keep in mind that if your issue is urgent, it may be better to contact Microsoft Dynamics GP support or your Dynamics GP partner.

Blogs

Blogs are now a regular part of supporting and maintaining an application and there are quite a number of blogs dedicated to Microsoft Dynamics GP. Some focus on a specific functionality or aspect of Dynamics GP, while others point out other Dynamics GP-related resources and articles. A few representative blogs are listed as follows:

For other Dynamics GP blogs, take a look at the blog links on any of the blogs listed.

Summary

In this article, we discussed various aspects of training your Dynamics GP users and provided some tips on how and when to train. We also went over tools available from Microsoft for Dynamics GP, troubleshooting steps, and listed a number of resources for further Dynamics GP information.

Resources for Article :

Further resources on this subject:

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